Even though Walt Disney World’s theme parks have been reopened since mid-July, one aspect of the parks has been missing: park hopping.
Disney World Monorail
During Disney World’s initial reopening phase, the Park Pass system was implemented, and guests could only visit one park per day. Starting January 1st, 2021 that will change.
The days of having to decide between riding Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and having dinner over at EPCOT’s Chefs de France are numbered — Park Hopping is coming back, baby!
Park Hopping Announcement
Disney has announced that Park Hopping will return for guests starting on January 1, 2021!
Magic Kingdom
Though you’ve been able to buy park hopper tickets all along, the option is actually finally being reactivated. Guests will need to have a ticket or pass with Park Hopping capabilities. They’ll also still need to book a Park Pass at their first park of the day AND enter that park in order to Park Hop.
Park Hopping Details
Starting at 2PM each day, guests can hop to another park. Disney hasn’t made clear if guests are able to visit more than two parks per day at this time. The hours of Park Hopping could be earlier or later as time goes on but initially, it will begin at 2PM. Guests will soon be able to visit Disney World’s Park Hours page or use their My Disney Experience app to identify the park hours for Park Hopping.
Note that Park Hopping to each park will still be limited by the parks’ capacity limitations.
Park Hopping Procedure
What if you’re looking to venture over to Disney’s Hollywood Studios? Unless you choose to START your day at this park (and, therefore, get a Park Pass for Disney’s Hollywood Studios), you WON’T be eligible to get a boarding group to ride Rise of the Resistance at either 7AM or 1PM (the new afternoon sign-up time that will begin on December 20th). Disney has indicated this specifically in its announcements about the return of Park Hopping, and it is especially true now as Park Hopping hours are currently set to begin at 2PM, which is AFTER the new 1PM afternoon boarding group sign-up time (which will become effective on December 20th).
©Disney
Disney has made clear you do NOT need a Park Pass for the additional parks you plan to visit but that this is subject to change at any time.
Disney has also updated their Annual Pass website to note that, in the case of Annual Passholders, the ability to visit another park will be subject to applicable pass blockout dates, so that’s an important thing to keep in mind.
©Disney
We can’t wait to park hop till we drop again, and we will keep you filled on on ALL the details of what this means for your next trip to Disney World.
Click here to learn more about the Park Pass Reservation System
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Does this mean the monorail to Epcot will open?
Pam, it is expected to resume, but we will confirm and update.
But when can I buy an annual pass for 2021 with a park hopper?
How will you know if the second park has reached capacity before you leave the first park?
This is excellent news!!!
Here is what’s odd for locals…
We often make plans to visit the park but things come up and we don’t end up making it when planned. It seems a little silly that I still have to go to the first park even if it is later in the day. I often think of going to the park in the afternoon when crowds are a little lighter but things come up and now I find my time limited. To have to go swipe my magicband at the entrance of a park so I can go over to another seems not well thought out. One of the many problems with Disney leadership is that they see everything from a tourist perspective. They should remember that local passholders have keep them afloat these many months and look at the world through the lens of local visitors as well as guests traveling from afar.
If someone is looking for an example, I like the rides at Hollywood Studios but unless I’m eating at the Brown Derby, not much else appeals to me there. That means heading over to EPCOT for dinner so if I run late, I still need to go to Hollywood Studios, check in, then leave so I can get into EPCOT, provided there is capacity. It’s after 2 pm and they have capacity, why do I still need to go to the other park.
This method is is going to be a complete cluster.
They will have to re-evaluate this very quickly.
Hello,
Will you be able to hop to a 3rd and 4th park after hopping to your 2nd Park of the day, or just that 2nd park?
Just got back from WDW. Returning in January so this is great news. Hopefully fast pass will return soon too!!! On a side note, I was sad to see the new colors on the castle. It’s not nearly as pretty as before. The purpley-blue is bad, really bad.
Bill, we have received mixed messages from Cast Members when we called, so we’re not able to confirm this. We will keep trying to get a confirmed response and will update when we do.
Belinda, our understanding is that the information will be in My Disney Experience.
Jim, still no info on this.
Super excited about this! That means more things will be opening up! Slowly, but it will happen! Yippee! Thank you so much for the information!
This is not great news. Park hopping is park hopping. I have frequently visited more than one park on one day… it is time to start letting people move around at will.